Material taken from Class - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft

A class is the primary adventuring style of a player character which determines the type of weapons and armor it can use, as well as what abilities, powers, skills, and spells it will gain throughout its adventures.

Be aware that the choice of which class to play is constrained by the choice of race; each race has a different group of available classes from which to choose. Some classes (Shaman, Paladin, and Druid) are available to only one race within a faction. Draenei are the only Alliance race that can play as Shamans; Blood elves are the only Horde race that can play as Paladins. Night elves and tauren are the only races that can play as Druids for their respective factions.

Each class has three unique talent trees. As a character progresses, they can specialize their skills by assigning class talent points in any of the trees for their class.

Collecting class sets is a way players can improve a character when they have reached the level cap. Most dungeon and raid sets are made up of armor items designed specifically for the class; however, faction rewards sets also include trinkets and neck pieces.

But, always remember that it doesn't matter what class you chose as long as you are willing to stand by it and don't give up.



Brief summary of each class
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Druid

Druids are versatile hybrids. They perform different roles using appropriate shapeshifting forms. They can have high armor and rage like a warrior in Bear Form, stealth and fight in melee like a rogue in Cat Form, or heal and nuke with spells in humanoid form. Through talents, they can enhance one or more of these roles and even gain a new form for healing (Tree Form) or nuking (Moonkin Form).

Hunter

Hunters are the only class that can effectively use ranged weapons (bows, guns, or crossbows) as a primary source of damage. Very adept at kiting, they have plenty of tools to allow them to avoid melee combat, where they are fairly weak. Hunters may tame many varieties of beasts to serve as combat pets, which along with an array of scouting, tracking, and survival abilities make them excellent solo characters. The three talent specializations for hunters are Marksmanship, Beast Mastery, and Survival.

Mage

Mages are ranged magic damage dealers with very powerful direct and area effect damage spells, but weak armor and health. They also feature a variety of utility spells, including crowd control, teleportation and group portals to capital cities, and conjuration of food and water. They can specialize through talents into ice, fire or arcane magic, each having different strengths.

Paladin

Paladins are Holy Warriors and are a hybrid class. They can melee DPS, tank, or heal. Paladins also have very strong group support and buff abilities, arguably one of the best buffing and group support classes in game. They can wear heavy plate armor and carry shields, but are also efficient healers, which combine to produce their renowned durability in combat. With talent specialization and equipment selection, paladins can fill the role of melee DPS, tank, offtank, or healer and excel when called upon to spot-fill all these roles in a group setting.
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade With the release of the Burning Crusade, Paladins are no longer exclusive to the Alliance. Blood elves (Horde) can now play as Paladins.

Priest

Priests can be powerful healers, healing a single character or many allies at once. Priests have a variety of utility spells, along with a few tricks, such as Power Word: Fortitude, Mind Control and the extremely useful Dispel Magic and Cure Disease. Priests can also specialize in offensive shadow magic, gaining the ability to assume Shadowform, and at higher levels regenerating mana quickly for their entire party.

Rogue

Rogues excel at dealing melee damage and incapacitating their foes, particularly low health and low armor targets such as casters. Stealth gives them a tactical advantage and allows them to start a fight on their own terms. Other important abilities include lockpicking and the creation and handling of poisons. Also, a huge power is the Rogue's ability to stun and incapacitate for a large period of time. This, paired with the rogue's high damage, gives him a huge edge over his opponent. Rogues do not use mana for their combat abilities. Instead they use energy and generate combo points which are used to execute finishing moves.

Shaman

Shamans are one of the most versatile classes in the game as they can switch seamlessly from offensive caster to healer to melee DPS as needed, though at later levels they often specialize in one of these roles. Shamans can provide good support to a party, with the ability to step in and fill any role that may be lacking at the moment. Their high burst damage and healing also make them quite good at PvP. They are able to drop stationary totems on the ground which provide a variety of effects, many of which are useful to their entire party. They are unique in that they can provide complete wipe recovery by self-resurrecting and then resurrecting the rest of the party.
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade With the release of the Burning Crusade, Shamans are no longer exclusive to the Horde. Draenei (Alliance) can now play as Shamans.

Warlock

Warlocks enslave demons and call upon dark magic and curses to dominate and destroy their foes. Like hunters, warlocks employ combat pets, but these are summoned demons rather than tamed beasts. They are primarily ranged magic damage dealers with a focus on damage over time in addition to nukes and AoE, but lack the extreme burst damage capabilities of a mage. Demon pets and fear spells give them a variety of tactical options, and they have several utility spells and abilities, including summoning party members and creating healthstones and soulstones.

Warrior

Warriors are close-combat fighters and usually fill the role of primary tank or offtank, as they are able to both withstand and inflict fierce physical punishment and have the most versatile means of generating threat and keeping aggro off other characters. They can also contribute very strong melee DPS when needed. Warrior abilities use rage, which is generated by dealing and taking damage, but decays over time while not in combat. Warriors are highly dependent on their gear, as their ability to deal and take damage is controlled directly by the quality and effects of their weapons and armor.

Brief summary of each hero class

Death Knight World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

The death knight combines martial prowess with dark, necromantic energies. It will be the first hero class in World of Warcraft; once certain criteria are met (not yet finalized), the player will have the ability to create a new death knight character, which will begin play at a high experience level (possibly somewhere between 55 and 70) with multiple spells and abilities ready to use. They are a hybrid class, being able to be tanks or deal damage. They are a melee class with casting abilities like the Paladin, and can raise Undead minions. Although they will have minions, they will not be a pet class, but have some of their mechanics. They are the only class to use the Rune resource system. It is also notable that the death knights will have their own talent trees like any other current class.